Amazon announces new 'Halo' fitness band with no screen, 3D body scans and more - MobileSyrup | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Tech

Amazon announces new 'Halo' fitness band with no screen, 3D body scans and more – MobileSyrup

Published

 on


Amazon announced a new fitness band and subscription platform with some innovative new features that also bring significant privacy concerns.

The new tracker, called ‘Halo,’ is little more than a wristband with a variety of sensors attached. It doesn’t have a screen like an Apple Watch or Fitbit, which indicates Amazon has a different aim here than traditional fitness trackers. Halo offers several of the same basic tracker features seen elsewhere, such as cardio and sleep tracking. There are also ‘labs’ developed by partners that act like small challenges designed to improve health habits like meditation, sleep or starting basic exercise routines.

However, the standout additions here are 3D body fat scans and voice tone tracking. Body scans use your smartphone’s camera to take four pictures of you — one from the front, one from the back and one from each side. The Halo app uploads these scans to Amazon’s servers, where the company combines them into a 3D scan of your body. Amazon says it sends the scan back to your phone and deletes the data of its servers.

Once you have the scan, Halo uses machine learning to analyze the scan and calculate your body fat percentage. Amazon argues body fat percentage is a more reliable indicator of health than either weight or body mass index (BMI). It also claims its machine learning system measures body fat more accurately than smart scales that use bioelectrical impedance to measure body fat. Halo users can adjust a slider in the app to see what their body looks like with more or less body fat.

Halo is available for anyone 13 years of age and up, but the body scan feature is restricted to people 18 or older. The body scan feature sounds like a privacy nightmare, but Amazon promises it’s being careful with user data. The company plans to post a document detailing every type of data it collects, where it’s stored and how to delete it.

Aside from the obvious privacy alarm bells, The Verge points out that, despite the educational and motivational goal of body scans, it could be dangerous for people with body dysmorphic disorder, anorexia or other self-image issues. When asked about those issues, Amazon told The Verge that Halo recommends doing scans once every two weeks. It also prevents the slider from showing dangerously low levels of body fat and includes information about how low body fat can increase risk for certain health problems.

Tone tracking and privacy

Amazon’s Halo band includes a built-in microphone, but it’s not for voice commands. In fact, Alexa isn’t on the device at all. Instead, the microphone listens to your voice throughout the day and generates a report about your emotional state. For users who don’t opt-in, the microphone does nothing.

The system works passively and intermittently listens to your voice. When it listens, it sends audio snippets to your phone where the Halo app analyzes them, looking at pitch, intensity, rhythm and tempo. It compares this against a baseline you create by reading sample text, categorizes ‘notable moments’ and organizes them for users to review. Amazon stressed that voice snippets never get uploaded to servers and are never heard by humans.

Amazon also notes that it modelled the feature on American English, so results may be less accurate for people with an accent.

It’s worth noting that both the tone tracking and body scan features are opt-in and, at least so far, Amazon has been transparent about where the data goes. Further, Amazon made it easy to turn off the features and delete the data. Some other key points about Halo include that the profile is distinct from your Amazon account. It will need individual activation with a second factor like a text message, which prevents others who share your Prime account from getting into it.

Amazon is also limiting how Halo shares data. You can’t integrate it without fitness apps like Apple Health at launch, but data can be shared with third-parties, including some partners like WW (formerly Weight Watchers).

Typical tracking with a twist

Finally, Halo handles the typical tracking people have come to expect from fitness trackers, but handled differently. For example, it tracks cardio fitness, but on a weekly basis instead of daily like most apps. It also counts steps, but users see an abstract fitness score instead of basic step counter.

Halo also has a heart monitor, but it only uses this to distinguish between intense, moderate and light activity. It combines that data to ensure wearers meet a weekly activity target. Instead of hourly stand or step prompts seen on Apple Watch or Fitbit devices, Halo measures how long users remain sedentary and deducts from the weekly activity score if people don’t do much for more than eight hours (excluding sleep). Halo doesn’t proactively alert users to heart conditions nor does it do fall detection.

All in all, Amazon’s Halo band seems like an interesting device. It offers less intrusive hardware than competitors, but also less features. Plus, some may consider the band’s most innovative features to be disturbing. The other thing to consider will be availability. MobileSyrup reached out to Amazon Canada for details about a Canadian release. At the time of writing, Halo wasn’t available on Amazon.ca.

Halo costs $99.99 USD (about $131.45 CAD) but has limited time early access pricing of $64.99 USD ($85.44 CAD). Plus, to get some of Halo’s best features, you’ll need a monthly subscription that costs about $5.25 CAD (it’s not included in Amazon Prime). Considering you can get similar features from competitors without the monthly fee, as well as a more feature-rich tracker, it’s hard to imagine Halo taking off.

Fitbit’s new Inspire 2 tracker, for example, costs $129.95 and includes 12 months free Fitbit Premium, a display and near feature parity with Halo, excluding Amazon’s body scan and tone tracking tech. To me, that seems like a much better purchase. Still, it’s possible Halo will find a niche crowd that appreciates what it does, and Amazon’s new features could push competitors to adopt similar ideas.

Source: Amazon, (2) Via: The Verge

Let’s block ads! (Why?)



Source link

Continue Reading

Tech

Ottawa orders TikTok’s Canadian arm to be dissolved

Published

 on

 

The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.

“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.

The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.

However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”

Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.

A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.

“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.

“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”

The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.

At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.

A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”

Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.

Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.

Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.

Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.

While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.

Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.

The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.

— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Health

Here is how to prepare your online accounts for when you die

Published

 on

 

LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?

It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.

Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:

Apple

The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.

For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.

You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.

Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.

Google

Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.

When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.

You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.

There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.

Facebook and Instagram

Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.

When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.

The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.

You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.

TikTok

The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.

Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.

X

It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.

Passwords

Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?

Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.

But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.

___

Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.

Source link

Continue Reading

Tech

Google’s partnership with AI startup Anthropic faces a UK competition investigation

Published

 on

 

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.

The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.

“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”

San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.

Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”

“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.

The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version